13 October 2014

The Return of Iohannes

Good news, it looks like a second copy of the famous dark age script, Chronica Iohannes has been discovered in the vault of the Church of St James in Rawcliffe, Yorkshire. Rawcliffe, an attractive village dating from about the 12th century, has been called the Queen of Villages. It is near the market town of Goole and lies on the banks of the River Aire. Although the present church dates from the 19th century it is known that there has been a religious structure there since the 14th century.

The priests at St James (a very high Anglican church) have always been known for their learning and many have been collectors of old scripts. It however was quite a shock that a second copy of Chronica Iohannes was discovered in a previously undiscovered crypt under the Creyke Chapel. This version, the Rawcliffe Chronicle, differs somewhat from the Lindisfarne Chronicle in the starting date as well as some of the names of Saxon invaders as well as the chronology of events.

I feel that this version, since it is more complete, will be better on which to base our Dux Britanniarum campaign. We had our first game last Thursday and although there was still some debate the rule mechanics, the game went quite well and I am pleased to say that Britons repelled the Saxons in their first encounter. An excellent pictorial of the battle can be found on Adam's blog, the Fencing Frog. The Saxon Characters are listed below. I have carried over the Britons from my solo campaign, but I did re-dice the attribute of my champion Uther as he was originally a horseman, but alas is without horse.

I had a 4+ victory, so I earned A Thief's Hoard, added 2 warriors and the priest Iohannes to my retinue. I think I will probably upgrade Antoninus from a Tribune to a Praefectus. This will allow me to build some Watchtowers once I gain some more loot. Our next game will be set in Oct 550, hopefully in actuality next Thursday!

Dux Mechanic Clarifications: A few things came up in our game, most of them were resolved with reference to the rule book, but help was also sought from the trusty denizens at the TFL Forum.

Raid Points: It seemed somewhat unclear from the book whether the Britons were awarded points when the Saxons were unsuccessful. This was clarified as being the case in most of the raid scenarios (church, village, farm and cattle raids).

Amalgamation of Groups: The British start the game with 3 groups of Levy, the question arose during our game as each group suffered attrition would their footprint reduce accordingly (specifically could you use 2 movement trays instead of 3). It was felt that the groups can indeed reduce their foot print but they still remain separate groups and thus have to be identified in some way.

Attachment of Leaders: Leaders can attach and detach to groups freely without CI cost, but if they have to move to do this than this requires a CI.